The liver of our body is an organ which acts like a filter: it helps digest food by filtering out bad chemicals and substance from the food we eat. It is an energetic and critical part of our digestive system, and one of the most important organs in our body. However, the liver is also prone to damage. There are many causes of damage to liver, from chemical to disease.
At presently near about two million Americans suffer from liver damage caused by alcohol abuse. About 10 to 20 percent of large alcohol takers will develop cirrhosis of the liver, which is characterized by scarring of the liver and causes irreversible damage. If large alcohol takers do not stop drinking, cirrhosis can cause poor health and, ultimately, death. In addition to cirrhosis, heavy drinkers may suffer from chronic liver disease or alcoholic hepatitis.
Damage to the liver can lead to problems with blood sugar levels. When alcohol is present in the body, the liver works to metabolize it. Because the liver is busy metabolizing alcohol, it is often not able to adequately maintain blood sugar levels, which may result in hypoglycemia (low levels of blood sugar). Hypoglycemia is most likely to occur in individuals who have not maintained an adequate diet. When it occurs, the brain is not able to receive the energy it needs to function, and symptoms such as hunger, weakness, headache, tremor, and even coma (in severe cases) may occur.
Hepatic insufficiency can be defined as a clinical condition resulting from the additive effects of toxic metabolic defects. It may occur in any form of liver disease. It is usually gradual and relatively asymptomatic (David Cayer, American journal of digestive disease).
Hepatic insufficiency can be characterized by condition where liver is unable to perform its normal function. If the same is not treated then it may lead to impaired function of filtration carried out by liver and as a result, lots of waste products get accumulated in the blood and lead to serious condition of hepatic coma.
Jaundice is a clinical condition which is characterized by yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes which is due to an accumulation of a cellular waste production called bilirubin. The discoloration is often, but by no means always, accompanied by itching, which can be intense, as well as by nausea, vomiting, headache, fever, dark-colored urine, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, abdominal swelling, and light-colored stools. Jaundice is not a disease in and of itself, but a sign that the liver is having inability to perform the normal function specifically handling bilirubin. The liver makes bilirubin from dying red blood cells and other sources. It then converts bilirubin into bile, which has several purposes, among them the digestion of fatty acids and neutralization of stomach acid. If there is too much bilirubin production for the liver to deal with, or if the liver's functioning is compromised, jaundice will be the outcome at the end. Jaundice may be caused by several different disease processes. It is helpful to understand the different causes of jaundice by identifying the problems that disrupt the normal bilirubin metabolism and/or excretion.
The liver has many functions. One of the liver's functions is to produce and secrete bile into the intestines to help digest dietary fat. Another is to remove toxic chemicals or waste products from the blood, and bilirubin is a waste product. The liver removes bilirubin from the blood. After the bilirubin has entered the liver cells, the cells conjugate (attaching other chemicals, primarily glucuronic acid) to the bilirubin, and then secrete the bilirubin/glucuronic acid complex into bile. The complex that is secreted in bile is called conjugated bilirubin. The conjugated bilirubin is eliminated in the feces. (Bilirubin is what gives feces its brown color.) Conjugated bilirubin (called direct) is distinguished from the bilirubin that is released from the red blood cells and not yet removed from the blood which is termed unconjugated (called indirect) bilirubin.
Jaundice occurs when there is 1) too much bilirubin being produced for the liver to remove from the blood. (For example, patients with hemolytic anemia have an abnormally rapid rate of destruction of their red blood cells that releases large amounts of bilirubin into the blood), 2) a defect in the liver that prevents bilirubin from being removed from the blood, converted to bilirubin/glucuronic acid (conjugated) or secreted in bile, or 3) blockage of the bile ducts that decreases the flow of bile and bilirubin from the liver into the intestines. (For example, the bile ducts can be blocked by cancers, gallstones, or inflammation of the bile ducts). The decreased conjugation, secretion, or flow of bile that can result in jaundice is referred to as cholestasis: however, cholestasis does not always result in jaundice.
The bile ducts normally discharge pigments and bile salts into the intestine and an obstruction in the ducts can cause jaundice. The yellowish pigmentation of the skin is because of bile mixing with the blood. The obstruction could be caused by gallstones or an inflammation of the liver, known as hepatitis.
Results and statistical analysis of many epidemiological studies, clinical trials, and laboratory mechanistic studies indicate that many medicinal plants may be useful in the prevention and treatment of liver dysfunction and its related diseased conditions.
There are many poly herbal formulations available in the market claiming to be useful for many diseased conditions including liver damage, liver cirrhosis, hepatic insufficiency and many more but majority of such poly herbal formulations doesn't contain the standardized material and appropriate proportion of required plant extract with required active constituents according to targeted condition.
It is visible from the above discussion that there is still exists a long felt need and a strong demand in the society for the herbal formulation based on plant of natural kingdom, which provides beneficial activity against liver dysfunctional the same time doesn't have major side effects to human beings.
We have surprisingly found that when extract of specific parts of specific plant are formulated in to a composition, the said composition exhibits superior activity in the treatment of liver dysfunction with minimal or no side effects at all.